“Every Scholarship Tells a Story” from The Exeter Bulletin, Winter 2008

Matching students with scholarships is key to Rick Mahoney, director of financial aid, shown above in his role as basketball coach

There are many things that Rick Mahoney ’61; ’74, ’95 (Hon.); P’88, P’92 likes about his job as Exeter’s longtime director of financial aid. But one of the best parts, he says, is “connecting the stories”—matching the life stories of financial aid students with one (or more) of Exeter’s endowed scholarship funds.

Alumnus John Langdon Sibley created Exeter’s first endowed scholarship in 1863, and today Mahoney oversees hundreds of such funds. Some target particular academic, artistic or athletic interests, while others target students from particular regions of the country. Some honor family members or favorite teachers, while others are endowed by former scholarship students committed to providing another generation of students with the same opportunity they enjoyed. Some are substantial, some more modest; but all of them are making a sizeable difference in the lives of Exeter students today—and often their donors’ lives as well.

How Yi Han ’08 found Exeter, Ted Rowse ’39 and himself.
For Yi Han ’08, coming to Exeter meant starting a new life, for the second time. Having migrated from China to New Jersey at age 13, Han began his American sojourn with only a basic understanding of the English language and a lingering attachment to his home city of Beijing. Yet with the support of his scientist parents and his teachers and friends at Highland Park High School, Han soon found his groove, even gaining enough confidence to enter a few high-level math competitions, which is how he met Academy math instructor Zuming Feng, and in turn, learned about Exeter.

“It was really a pretty impulsive decision to apply,” Han recalls of Exeter, noting that he sent in his application just months before his 10th-grade year, after getting to know Feng at the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP), which Feng directs. Impulsive or not, Han was accepted to the Academy for his lower year, and notes that the experience has “worked out magically.”

Indeed, by any standards, Han, who before Exeter had never heard of the concept of boarding school, has done well for himself, excelling at his academics, particularly mathematics and physics; becoming passionate about a new sport, crew; running a successful campaign to become president of his senior class; and growing fond enough of the Academy to morph into a Red Bandit at football games and other events that warrant a healthy dose of school spirit.

Since January 2007, Han has also, happily, developed a special friendship with Ted Rowse ’39, whose family scholarship, established in memory of Rowse’s brother, Robert ’44, has supported Han during his time at the Academy. “Right around New Year’s last year, I received a letter from Mr. Rowse introducing himself and asking me to write back to tell him how I was doing and how I liked Exeter,” recalls Han. A lively correspondence ensued, resulting eventually in Han’s visit, during summer 2007, to the Rowse’s home in Maryland, where Rowse, a former journalist, took Han to the National Press Club and showed him around the capital.

For Han, who plans a second visit with the Rowses during this year’s spring break, meeting his Exeter benefactors has been not only moving, but eye-opening. “Mr. Rowse told me he’d pick me up at the airport,” Han remembers of his first visit, “and I imagined this aristocratic older gentleman driving a Mercedes. ”What Han found instead was a down-to-earth, energetic couple who live modestly, choosing to “contribute to their Exeter scholarship over repairing their house or buying a new car. They are not just donating 1 percent of their wealth,” says Han. “It shows a lot about their character.”

Now embarked on the final half of his final year at Exeter, Han says he is “truly grateful” for his time at the Academy and his friendship with the Rowses, each of which, he explains, “has allowed me to experience so much more than I ever expected.”

Check out the full issue of The Exeter Bulletin, Winter 2008...

Learn about Exeter's commitment to financial aid, including a free Exeter education to any accepted student whose family income is $75,000 or less...